Chris Weidman returns after two-plus year absence, faces Brad Tavares at UFC 292
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to Boston, Massachusetts this summer for UFC 292, going down live from the TD Garden on August 19, 2023.
The UFC has already added two stellar championship bouts to the lineup, the first of which will serve as the co-main event of the evening where two-time UFC strawweight champion Weili Zhang (23-3) aims to make the first defense of her throne against no. 4 ranked Amanda Lemos (13-2-1).
The main event of the evening comes at 135 lbs, where UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling (23-3) aims to make the fourth defense of his title opposing no. 2 ranked Sean O’Malley (16-1).
We also have the return of two former world champions:
Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt faces Mario Bautista at this event, and there’s just been another bout added to the lineup, where former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman (15-6) makes his long-awaited return to the octagon against fellow veteran Brad Tavares (19-8).
Chris Weidman has taken quite a fall in recent appearances.
Following a 13-0 start to his MMA career that saw him defeat Anderson Silva (KO, TKO) twice, where he won and defended the title, he then defended it for a second and third time against former light-heavyweight champions Lyoto Machida (UD) and Vitor Belfort (TKO).
Since then however, Weidman has gone 2-6 over his latest eight appearances, losing all six defeats via knockout, and he hasn’t competed since April of 2021. This bout comes 28 months after his last, a fight where he broke his leg in his rematch with Uriah Hall at UFC 261.
Brad Tavares on the other hand went 7-1 through his first eight UFC outings before stumbling a bit. He’d go 1-3 over his next four, before going on a four-fight win streak from 2016 to 2018.
Tavares has since gone 2-4, losing his next two-straight, before winning his next two-straight, and eventually going into this fight on a two-fight skid.
This is a good match up to see where both men are at in their respective careers, with Weidman being 38 years of age (39 at the time of fight), and Tavares being 35.
Tavares came off The Ultimate Fighter 11 in 2010, debuting in the UFC with a record of 5-0; Weidman debuted in the UFC a year later in 2011 with a record of 4-0. This fight could’ve happened years and years ago, but it didn’t and now we get to see it go down in a little over two months’ time.
Who do you see coming out on top in this middleweight match up going down at UFC 292?
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